Less than a week into her Senate candidacy Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) is apologizing for using an offensive gesture while making comments about Native Americans.
In the video, shot on a cellphone, Sanchez is seen tapping her hands against her mouth and making a “woo-woo-woo” sound to indicate a Native American.
“I’m going to his office, thinking I’m going to meet with woo-woo-woo, right? ‘Cuz he said Indian American,” she told a group of people at California’s Democratic party convention.
The local news outlet reported that Uduak-Joe Ntuk took the video and said he was “shocked” by the comments.
“I was shocked and appalled that she’d make the disparaging comments about Native Americans that way,” he said.
Sunday, according to the LA Times, Sanchez apologized at the the state Democratic Party convention, pointing out that she is human and “in this crazy and exciting rush of meetings yesterday, I said something offensive, and for that I sincerely apologize.”
Attorney General Kamala Harris is also running as a Democrat for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). She called the comments “shocking” on Saturday. According to the LA Times her campaign said it was “right” for Sanchez to apologize.
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